Horst Wessel leading a Nazi March, Nuremberg 1929

Wessel, a 21-year-old law student, was an enthusiastic Brownshirt and, like Hess, participated in many street battles against the Communists. Early in 1930 he was shot by a Red gang and Goebbels made immediate use of his death by having Wessels song, Die Fahne Hoch (Raise high the flag) sung at a mass Nazi rally. The funeral march turned into a pitched battle between the Nazis and the Communists and thence the song became a battle hymn for the Nazis, known as the Horst Wessel Lied (song). The caption on the reverse places the picture as being taken during the Nuremberg Rally of 1929

21-year-old Brownshirt Caption Communists Enthusiastic Fahne Goebbels Hess Hoch Horst Hymn Immediate Lied Participated Pitched Raise Sung Thence Wessel Wessels

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